AbstractThe mechanical, elastic and anharmonic properties of zinc blende MgS compound have been investigated using a three‐body force potential arising from the charge transfer effects due to the deformation of the electronic shell of overlapping ions. The agreement between the results for elastic constants and bulk modulus and the available data is generally satisfactory. Values for the zone center LO phonon frequency, Debye temperature and specific heat at constant volume have also been obtained. In the case of anharmonic properties, such as third‐order elastic constants, physically significant and systematic values have been obtained similar to other compounds of the zinc blende structure.